BBC News | UK | Footballers' union nets Lowry Wednesday, 1 December, 1999, 13:56 GMT Footballers' union nets Lowry Going To The Match was expected to fetch �500,000 A painting of a football match by LS Lowry has been bought for a record �1.9m by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA). The players' union bought the 1953 picture, Going To The Match, for �1,926,500 at Sotheby's auction house in London. It was a record price at auction for any modern British painting. The oil painting shows a crowd of fans on their way to Bolton Wanderers' ground Burnden Park, which has since closed. It had been expected to sell for about �500,000. It represents the heart and soul of the game - the anticipation of the crowds going to the match. PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor, who bid for the picture, said they had wanted to buy the painting because it represented "the heart and soul of the game and the anticipation of fans on their way to a match".

He said: "I would have liked it for a lot less than that, but it is the football picture, it captures all the atmosphere of the game. "We wanted to keep the picture in football. It's always said that there's not enough literature and art surrounding the world's greatest game, so we are trying to build up a collection of memorabilia - caps, medals, jerseys - and good football pictures." Mr Taylor said: "Lowry did show an interest in the game. We wanted to keep it in the north west, where he came from, and we wanted it to be on display to the public." He said the painting would be loaned to the Salford Art Gallery and Museum before moving to the new Lowry Centre in April. 'Matchstick' men Salford-born Lawrence Lowry, who died in 1976, is known for his unique "matchstick" style figures. LS Lowry was famous for his 'matchstick' figures His best-known paintings depict industrial scenes of his native Lancashire, particularly during the depression of the 1930s, and were among the first modern images of working class life to be accepted by the British art establishment.

The previous record for a 20th century British painting was The Crucifixion by Sir Stanley Spencer, which sold for �1.2m at Sotheby's in May 1990. The PFA said it hoped to put the painting on public display in the Lowry Museum in Manchester. Susannah Pollen, head of Sotheby's Modern British and Irish Art Department, said: "This is one of the great images of this century's greatest game and one of the most remarkable Lowrys we have ever handled." Football has changed a great deal since Going To The Match was painted. Changing times In 1953 Bolton were one of the top sides in England and players of the calibre of Nat Lofthouse and Eddie Hopkinson won many England caps. The club fell out of the top flight in the 1970s but worked its way back up to the Premiership. In 1996 Wanderers sold Burnden Park in 1996 - the ground was demolished and the site is awaiting retail development - and moved to the �35m Reebok Stadium.

Club spokesman Alan Fullalove said: "I've been asked in the past if the club would ever bid for the painting, but we are a football club not an art house." But he told BBC News Online: "The club is delighted the painting is still in this country and still in football and, if it's going to be on display in the museum that is wonderful because it is a very emotive picture, especially for Bolton people." Search BBC News Online When Saturday Comes - Lowry's painting shows more than a crowd Lowry's painting shows more than a crowd Going to the Match on display 27 June ~ Perhaps the best known British football painting is LS Lowry's Going to the Match . The picture achieved a level of fame when, in 1999, it was bought by the Professional Footballers Association for £1.9 million. More modestly, it had earned Lowry a share of a £1,000 prize when it was one of four winners in the painting section of the 1953 Football and the Fine Arts competition, part of the celebrations of the FA's 90th anniversary. Tate Britain is now holding a major exhibition of the painter's work , which runs until October.

Although his pictures of mills and terraced houses are familiar he also produced a number of football related pictures. Lowry favoured Manchester City as a team but the picture shows Bolton's Burnden Park. Like many of his pictures it is a composite, not painted directly from life but built up from sketches and observations over time. It shows, as PFA head Gordon Taylor put it: "The heart and soul of the game, the anticipation of fans on their way to the match." The crowd is shown walking to the match, although photographs from the time show that even in 1953 some of the area outside the ground was used for car parking. Several queues are forming at the turnstiles, with the majority paying at the gate. In the background, people are flooding from terraced streets, mills and factories, many probably dashing from Saturday morning overtime with only a short break for a cup of tea or a pint. Taylor puts his emphasis on the crowd and that was probably Lowry's focus, with many of his pictures showing groups of people going to or coming from work and at play – fairs and football are common themes.

But Jack Charlton, commenting on what is, apparently, his favourite picture, gives more emphasis to the ground and his memories of watching matches at the time: "Open wooden stands, cinders under foot, terrible conditions in the toilets." There are plenty of stories that try to make a virtue of mediaeval plumbing but it's far too easy to romanticise the images as part of football's "golden age". Just seven years earlier, Burnden had been the scene of a major disaster when, following the collapse of crush barriers and as a result of overcrowding, 33 fans had died and over 400 were injured. Moelwyn Hughes, who chaired the enquiry into the disaster, commented that in the crowded standing terraces of football grounds "dangerous situations will arise again and again" and only luck and circumstance would decide the consequences. At the time of Lowry's painting, the matchday experience carried more than a hint of risk at many stadiums built to accommodate numbers rather than to provide comfort or safety. Lowry's picture captures a match when football was close to the peak of its popularity but already doubt was creeping in.

Material shortages in the post-war period left a limited range of leisure options open – sport in general and football in particular took its chance. Attendances in the 1948-49 season were at a peak of 41 million but by 1953 they had declined to around 36 million, before falling to below 30 million at the start of the 1960s. Another thing the picture captures is a moment before football faced a challenge from growing affluence and other demands on fans' time. During the 1950's private car ownership was set to double and television ownership would rise significantly. Bold, or crass, town-planning saw terraces demolished and populations moved to out-of-town estates, raising the cost of matchday travel, and a rise in house ownership saw more interest in hobbies such as gardening or DIY. Lowry's art is not to everyone's taste. But in that one image he captures factors, such as the flow and swirl of an excited crowd on the way to a match, not specific to Bolton or Burnden Park, but typifying football at the time.

The crowded terraces symbolise the huge numbers watching the sport, and the risks presented by what one writer has called the "decrepit terraces". In 1953 football was starting to face the challenge of the "missing millions". So, perhaps, Lowry captures the excitement of matchday but, unintentionally, also reflects a tipping point in football history. Brian Simpson Related articles Burnden Park – Bolton | Pipedreams from the Shire Pipedreams from the Shire The Red Rose County (Part 2) – The Lion of Vienna 26 01 2011 Having woken from a good night’s sleep, as promised by Lenny, I set off for a full day of Rwanda presentations. During the morning I was at Astley St Stephen, on the outskirts of Manchester, a C of E school involved in a global partnership with Nyabitare, one of my VSO schools. The afternoon was spent at the Valley Community School, Bolton, a state of the art building in a deprived area of town, sitting in the shadow of Warburtons factory where they’ve been baking ‘bread wi’ nowt taken out’ since 1876.

The two contrasting schools are linked in a local community cohesion project. The children at both schools were a delight; alert, interested and responsive, and their teachers were welcoming and appreciative. With a satisfying day of work completed I didn’t have far to travel for the second football league ground on my red rose tour, the home of Bolton Wanderers FC… Eleven years ago the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) shelled out an astonishing £1.9m at Sotheby’s (a record price at auction for any modern British painting) to secure a 1953 work by LS Lowry, Going To The Match. This iconic oil painting captures, for posterity, the atmosphere surrounding the game as a crowd of fans make their way to the then Bolton Wanderers’ ground, Burnden Park.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor, a former Bolton player with a degree in economics, said at the time, “I would have liked it for lot less than that, but it is the football picture…It represents the heart and soul of the game – the anticipation of the crowds going to the match.” My only previous visit to Bolton had been for the Boxing Day match of 1976 when the Wanderers, or the Trotters as they were more often known then, took on Forest in a top of the table 2nd division clash. A huge bank holiday crowd was treated to an entertaining 1-1 draw. Forest took the lead through a Peter Withe header with Neil Whatmore grabbing an equaliser for the hosts. Bolton always struck me as a place where football was played in black and white, as seen o n the front cover of the 34-year-old match programme!

In flicking through its pages I notice that Sam Allardyce turned out in the heart of Wanderers defence on that day and the Warburtons (Club President & Chairman) were celebrating the ‘baking of good bread and cakes in Bolton for 100 years.’ Big Sam, of course enjoyed a long playing career, and a successful spell as manager with Bolton. More recently he had been managing near neighbours and local Premiership rivals, Blackburn Rovers, who controversially sacked him, despite their comfortable mid ta ble position, due to his over dependence on neg ative tactics! Forest were promoted to the old 1st Division at the end of the ‘76/’77 season but Bolton had to wait a further year for their elevation to the top league. When Forest next returned to Burnden Park, on 16th December 1978, they were the reigning 1st division champions and it was to be a red-letter day – as demonstrated by this celebratory first day cover signed by the late great Nat Lofthouse (more of him later).

In winning the game 1-0, with a goal from Jinking Johnny Robbo (John Robertson), Forest set a new Football League record of 42 consecutive games (in effect a whole season) unbeaten! The Wanderers vacated their beloved but decrepit Burnden in 1997, moving out-of-town to the newly built Reebok stadium, which is where I was headed on Monday evening for the visit of current Premier League champions, Chelsea. I must say I was mightily impressed by the Reebok. I’ve been to quite a few of the new wave grounds including those at Coventry, Leicester, Swansea and Southampton, but in my opinion this is head and shoulders above all of them, in terms of architecture, atmosphere, accessibility and amenities. The next best, that I have visited, is the City of Manchester Stadium, which was originally built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. As circumstance would have it, Monday’s game was the first at the Reebok since the death of Bolton legend Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Lofthouse OBE (27.8.25 – 15.1.11).

Nat was a one club man, scoring an incredible 255 goals in 452 appearances. His goal ratio for England is an even more impressive 30 goals in 33 games! The floral tributes, scarves, shirts and pennants skirting the outside of stadium were a sight to behold, as were the messages of remembrance penned by so many. They spoke of Nat as : loyal, a legend, a hero, a gentleman, modest, a role model, unassuming and a true man of the people. Nat is rightly revered as both player and man, and here was an outpouring of praise that few, if any, modern-day players could contemplate. There were many references to the nickname by which he became known across the football world, The Lion of Vienna. He earned that title in 1952, for a typically battling performance leading the England line against a highly rated Austrian team. England won 3-2 with Lofthouse scoring twice. On his way to the second goal he was reportedly, elbowed in the face, tackled from behind and finally brought to the ground by the goalkeeper. The match programme carried an in-depth tribute to Nat’s life and career.

I was interested to read that, like my Dad, he was a Bevin Boy during the war. The Bevin Boys (named after the former Labour politician, Ernest Bevin, who devised the scheme) performed vital but largely unrecog nised service in the mines from 1943-48. They constituted 10% of conscripted 18-25 year olds and it wasn’t until as recently as 2007 that their wartime work was recognised, with the award of a veteran’s badge. I’ll be the very proud owner of my Dad’s one day. The Lofthouse legend will live on. The present day Bolton mascot is Lofty the Lion; and I was sitting, pitch side, in a stand that bears Nat’s name. Before the game Bolton and Chelsea fans, as one, enthusiastically applauded flickering black and white footage of the great man in his pomp. During the minute silence, prior to kick off, one might have heard a pin drop – and quite right too. It was a pity, that on such a night, the Wanderers couldn’t deliver the performance or result that the occasion demanded.

For the opening ten minutes they briefly threatened, surging forward on a tidal wave of emotion, urged on by a wall of sound. Then, with eleven minutes gone Didier Drogba won the ball 30 yards out and within the blink of an eye unleashed a bullet of a shot that flew beyond the despairing dive of goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, before dipping sharply below the bar and rippling the back of the net. It was a moment of sublime skill allied to power, the like of which I’ve not seen in live action for a very long time. It, alone, was worth the entrance fee. Drogba is immense, combining great technique with huge strength. It is difficult not to draw comparisons with Nat Lofthouse. As a player, Drogba, (who frequently kisses the lion on his Chelsea badge) may well be his modern-day equivalent but in terms of sportsmanship, and as a role model he wouldn’t be worthy to tie Nat’s bootlaces. Not many would.

Drogba’s moment of magic opened the way for further goals, at regular intervals, from Malouda, just before half-time, followed by Bolton old boy Anelka (who thankfully refrained from indulgent goal scoring celebrations) and finally Ramires. There could have been more as the home side visibly wilted and heads dropped. It wasn’t how Bolton players or fans would have wanted to mark the passing of a legend. To quote one of the many tributes: The Lion Sleeps Tonight – RIP. Laurie's Game: L.S. Lowry and Manchester City Laurie's Game: L.S. Lowry and Manchester City By Chris in London , Wed 09 May 2012 13:43 Something a bit different on the blog today, blues. In 1999 the Professional Footballers Association paid £1.9m for a Lowry painting called Going to the Match. Painted in 1953 as an entry for a competition called 'Football and the Fine Arts' the picture shows a crowd approaching Burnden Park prior to kick off.

Speaking at the time of the purchase, PFA Chairman Gordon Taylor said the picture captured "the heart and soul of the game and the anticipation of fans on their way to a match. It is the football picture, it captures all the atmosphere of the game.” He then added “I would have liked it for a lot less than that.” Because this, one of Lowry's most famous paintings, shows Burnden Park, many art critics and commentators have wrongly concluded that Lowry was a Bolton fan. In fact, there is significant evidence which shows him to have been a Blue. In an attempt - probably unsuccessful - to take your minds off Sunday for a brief time, this blog sketches out some features of Lowry’s career which may be of interest to fellow Blues. (Yes, ‘sketches’ out - I'll get my coat.) Laurence Steven Lowry - Laurie - was born in 1887 and died in 1976. True to form, City won the league cup that year only six days after Lowry had died in a Glossop hospital founded by one of the ancestors of the current Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Woods. 1976 was the start of a long period of mourning for more than one reason.

Although he painted for almost all of his life, going to art college as a young man and painting as long as his health allowed, a huge number of Lowry’s pictures, whether painted then or at a later date, are images from the inter war years 1918-39. Lowry was once asked why he put so many of his scenes in the depression years: 'because' he replied 'I was happiest then, and because I like the look of ill-fitting clothes, big bowlers, and clumsy bodies. They are comical.' self portrait There is credible evidence that like many working men in the inter war years Lowry was a regular at City. Of all the times in our club's history, that time could justifiably claim to be the most typical of all the 'Typical City' periods. The club's ground at Hyde Road was the first provincial ground to be visited by the King in 1920, the same year that the main stand burned down (prompting the move to Maine Road three years later).

In 1926 Lowry would have enjoyed that seminal City experience - a 6-1 thrashing of the rags – only to see City being relegated at the end of the season. A cup final defeat in 1933 was followed by lifting the cup the following season, beating Portsmouth 2-1 in the final. On the way to the final a crowd of 84,569, still the record attendance for any club in England, watched the sixth round home tie against Stoke. Our first league title in 1937 was followed by relegation the following season – still the only reigning champions to be relegated. But Typical City went down in style, scoring more goals than champions Arsenal and also every other Club in the top Division: that season saw City beat Derby 6-1 and 7-1, West Brom 7-1, Leeds 6-2 and Charlton 5-3. Before the final game of the season there were five teams below City in the table but a 1-0 defeat away at Huddersfield coupled with wins for Grimsby, Portsmouth, Birmingham and Stoke meant that the trapdoor opened and City jumped the queue.

Lowry himself had something of a black sense of humour and there is little doubt that the champions of England going down the next season would have produced a wry smile on his dour face (our famous gallows humour goes a long way back before York Away). Just to rub salt in, United were promoted to the first division the same season. Before retiring to Mottram in 1952 (to a house a stone’s throw from the church where Mike Summerbee was later married) Lowry had worked as a rent collector. His job caused him to travel largely on foot from one house to another, one street to another. Before his retirement Lowry did his painting in the evenings and at weekends, painting from memories of what he had seen as he went around Manchester - women nattering on the front step, kids playing in the street, factories and mills turning out. So whilst most artists work by painting what they see in front of them - a bowl of fruit or a portrait in a studio, or a landscape painted in the open air - Lowry’s way of working meant that most of his work from his the pre-retirement period are general impressions of daily life, rather than images capturing specific events.

Many more are composite pictures: a street from Chadderton leading up to a Mill in Stalybridge, with a row of shops in Collyhurst to one side. As Lowry once himself said "Most of my land and townscape is composite. Made up; part real and part imaginary. Bits and pieces of my home locality. I don't even know I'm putting them in. They just crop up on their own, like things do in dreams.” Another time he said “If I had shown things as they are it would not have looked like a vision. So I had to make up symbols. With my figures also, of course". Street Scene, Pendlebury This is why one of Lowry's paintings, Manchester City v Sheffield United, is highly unusual. It is quite rare for any Lowry to depict any identifiable event, but this picture reflects a crowd scene at the second division fixture between City and Sheffield United which took place on 22nd October 1938 which City won 3-2 (apply to G. James Esq., c/o bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk for details of City's scorers).

So far as I know this is the only specifically identifiable sporting event known to have been captured by Lowry. In 2008 the picture was sold to a private collector following auction. Speaking at the time of the auction, Christies Art Historian Rachel Hidderley said: "Manchester City Versus Sheffield United is from a small and important group of paintings in which Lowry records an actual event rather than a composite image of different locations or impressions. In the work, he concentrates on the home crowd rather than the team members, using the occasion of the match to concentrate on depicting the personalities of the individuals attending." Manchester City v Sheffield United The date of the painting obviously indicates that the location is Maine Road, the match taking place just a few months after relegation to the second division. There has been some speculation that the scene Lowry shows is a ticket tout, but that seems to me unlikely as the cost of admission to the ground on match day in the Thirties was well within the means of the average working man, and entry was usually just cash on the door.

Having mentioned that, it is worth noting tangentally something that a photographer called Ian Hughes said in 2009 of a picture he had taken of Arsenal's old ground Highbury from an adjacent street during the course of a match there: “I counted five houses with the game being shown on Sky TV in the front rooms. Perhaps this signifies that the local fans that the club was traditionally based on are being priced out of going to top-end football matches. I contrast this with the great L.S. Lowry's 'Going to the Match' painting from 1953, depicting crowds streaming into Bolton's Burnden Park ground on foot from the surrounding terraced streets." But I digress. There is little evidence beyond the image itself of what Lowry was actually capturing in this painting but it seems to me far more likely than not that, as some other art historians have concluded, that the scene shows a bookie plying his trade before kick-off in the manner commonplace at the time.

If so, there is some irony given that one of the most prolific collectors of Lowrys in recent years has been Selwyn Demmy, son of the well known bookmaker Gus Demmy (well known if you’re of a certain age) and that - rumour has it - Selwyn Demmy was himself advised to start collecting Lowrys by a footballer called Gary Owen. Now where have I heard that name before? Whilst the painting may be unique in terms of the event that it captures, the crowd scene shown in the City v Sheffield painting is a typical Lowry image. Crowds were significant in Lowry’s work, and many of Lowry’s admirers pay tribute to his ability to capture the feel of a crowd. In 2011 for instance Sir Ian McKellen – fresh from a stint appearing in Coronation Street, itself a programme named after a Lowry painting – made a film for ITV called ‘My Lifelong Passion for Lowry’. In an article in the Telegraph publicizing the film, he said “Until Lowry painted his crowds, no other artist had recorded how people look and behave en masse. Each individual is on his/her own journey across the canvas yet leaning to form the crowd with its own collective identity.

Once you have seen how Lowry saw us, you cannot ever see or be in a football crowd, nor watch kids playing, workers leaving the factory, queuing, or stopping to chat or hear the fairground barker, without saying, ‘Lowry! It’s just like a Lowry painting!’ Going about our business or pleasure, we are all subjects of his vision.” Mill Scene Nonetheless the irony of Lowry’s crowd scenes is that Lowry himself suffered terribly from loneliness. He never married or had children. He lived with his mother until her death in 1939, after which Lowry said “I have no family, only my studio. Were it not for my painting, I couldn't live. It helps me forget that I am alone.” But being part of a huge crowd, at a match or otherwise, often underlined the loneliness. Lowry later said “the loneliest place in the world is in a crowd”. It is for me very sad to think of this great man, standing on the K Kippax perhaps, surrounded by thousands of fellow blues but still feeling intensely lonely. Many of the blue persuasion are devoted admirers of Lowry.

Gary Owen is noted above, but another obvious example is Noel Gallagher, who said in Sir Ian McKellan’s film that he couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t known about Lowry, and who wondered out loud why the Tate Gallery in London has 23 Lowrys in its collection but none of them is on display. The video for the Oasis single The Masterplan is not only Lowry-esque in its animation throughout, but it pays homage to a number of Lowrys by reproducing in the video some of his most famous images (like the one below) whilst the animated Gallagher brothers walk past. Towards the end of the video, Going to the Match is reproduced, although Burnden Park has somehow become Maine Road. Man lying on a wall There are many non-football related Lowry pictures which will be of interest to Blue Mooners (google them to see the images themselves). In 1953 he sketched St Mary's church in Beswick. In 1969 he painted Stockport viaduct (and as we all know from Sad Café, we’re all from Stockport really).

There is a very famous Lowry showing the Good Friday fair at Daisy Nook park near Droylsden in 1946, which sold for more than £3 million in 2009. Many City fans will find it amazing that the Art World will pay £3 million for a picture of Droylsden, but the Art World is just as amazed that City spent the same money on Lee Bradbury. Good Friday, Daisy Nook Some of his more colourful pictures of daily life – such as “Fight” and “Home from the Pub” which features three women staggering home pissed clutching bottles of booze and each other - are images which could be a Friday night today as easily as a street scene from seventy years ago. (Well, he did live near Stalybridge). But it is interesting to think about what Lowry would have made of us now: would he have nodded in recognition at the blues in Shambles square and Mary D’s ahead of the game? He captured Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Circus in London perfectly: what could he have done with City Square?

And what of the crowds streaming down the spirals and away from the ground into a cold Manchester evening; would he have recognised the same breed of blues who watched us beat Sheffield United 74 years ago? Yes, I think he would too. Bonhams : GOING TO THE MATCH LEADS STRONG SHOW OF LOWRYS AT BONHAMS PRINT SALE GOING TO THE MATCH LEADS STRONG SHOW OF LOWRYS AT BONHAMS PRINT SALE Industrial Panorama A signed lithograph of L. S. Lowry's famous painting Going to the Match leads a strong selection of works by the popular and much loved artist at Bonhams print sale in London on 9 December. It is estimated at £10,000-15,000. Lowry painted Going to the Match in 1928. It shows fans heading for the turnstiles to watch Bolton Wanderers play at Burnden Park, the home of the club from 1895 – 1997.

The painting was bought by the Professional Football Association at auction in 1999 for the then-record price for the artist of £2,000,000 and it now hangs in the Lowry galleries in The Lowry in Salford. The hand-signed lithograph was executed in 1972 in an edition of 300. The many other evocative images in the sale include the large and impressive Industrial Panorama, (£1,200-1,800); Station Approach (£1,000-1,500); Huddersfield (£1,000-2,000); Burford Church (£700-1,000 and Deal Beach (£1,500-2,000). Bonhams Print specialist, Robert Jones said, "L. S. Lowry's works conjure up time and place in a way few other artists can equal and it is not surprising that prints of his paintings are always in high demand.

We are lucky to have such a strong and diverse selection in this sale." The sale also includes works by other master print makers including Rembrandt, Picasso, David Hockney and Henry Moore. NOTES FOR EDITORS Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Connecticut in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas.

For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to Golden age <BR>Lowry football painting goes on sale | UK news | The Guardian Lowry football painting goes on sale Guardian staff and agencies The Guardian , Wednesday 13 October 1999 02.50 BST A painting hailed by the Football Association as among the greatest depictions of the essence of the game is to go under the hammer at Sotheby's, the auctioneers said yesterday. Going to the Match by LS Lowry, painted in 1953, was seen as a vivid depiction of football's golden age, which culminated in England's 1966 World Cup victory. The painting, which has not been seen publicly since it was last exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1976, is due to be included in a sale of modern British and Irish art in London on December 1. It is being sold by a private owner. The oil shows crowds making their way to Bolton Wanderers football ground at Burnden Park in the industrial suburb of Pendlebury on a Saturday afternoon. It is expected to fetch more than £500,000.

Lowry moved to Pendlebury in 1909. The painting shows the imposing stadium in contrast to the artist's distinctive matchstick people, who are typically set against an industrial backdrop. It captures the feeling of the game in an era when huge crowds attended matches. Burnden Park : definition of Burnden Park and synonyms of Burnden Park (English) 5 External links Location Situated on Manchester Road in the Burnden area of Bolton - approximately one mile from the town centre - the ground served as the home of the town's football team for 102 years. It also hosted the replay of the 1901 FA Cup Final , in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3-1. [1] History Bolton Wanderers was formed in 1874 as Christ Church FC, with the vicar as club president. After disagreements about the use of church premises, the club broke away and became Bolton Wanderers in 1877 meeting at the Gladstone Hotel. [2] At this time Bolton played at Pike’s Lane but needed a purpose built ground to play home matches.

As a result Bolton Wanderers Football and Athletic Club, one of the 12 founder members of the Football League, became a Limited Company in 1894 and shares were raised to build a ground. Land at Burnden was leased at £130 per annum and £4,000 raised to build the stadium. Burnden Park was completed in August 1895. The opening match was a benefit match against Preston and the first League match was against Everton in front of a 15,000 crowd. [3] In its heyday, Burnden Park could hold crowds of up to 70,000, but this figure was dramatically reduced during the final 20 years of its life, mainly because of new legislation which saw virtually all English stadia reduce their capacities for safety reasons. A section of the embankment was sold off in 1986 to make way for a new Normid superstore (which had closed by the end of the 1990s).

At this time, Bolton were in a dire position financially and were struggling in the Football League Third Division , so there was a low demand for tickets and the loss of part of the ground gave the Bolton directors good value for money. The club's directors had decided by 1992 that it would be difficult to convert Burnden Park into an all-seater stadium for a club of Bolton's ambition. They were members of the new Division Two (which was known as the Third Division until the creation of the Premier League ) but the club had ambitions to reach the top flight. The last ever Wanderers game played at the historic ground was against Charlton Athletic in April 1997. Bolton, who were already Division One champions, defeated Charlton 4-1 after being 1-0 down at half time. Whites' legend John McGinlay scored the final goal shortly before Bolton received their trophy and the crowd united in singing Auld Lang Syne .

It was decided to build a new multi-million pound 25,000-seater stadium (later raised to 28,000) - the Reebok Stadium - at the Middlebrook development and the move went ahead in 1997, despite the sadness of many fans. Burnden Park Disaster Main article: Burnden Park disaster On 9 March 1946, the ground was the scene of, at the time, the worst tragedy in British football history, when 33 Bolton Wanderers fans were crushed to death in an FA Cup quarter-final second leg tie between Bolton and Stoke City . There was an estimated 85,000 crammed in for the game, at least 15,000 over-capacity. The disaster led to the Moelwyn Hughes 's official report, which recommended limitations on crowd sizes. Outside football The railway embankment of Burnden Park was seen in the 1962 film A Kind of Loving , starring Alan Bates and June Ritchie . Part of the Arthur Askey film "The Love Match" was also filmed at Burnden Park in the early 1950s.

A painting of Burnden Park in 1953 by L. S. Lowry , Going to the Match, was bought for £1.9m by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) in 1999. [4] Redevelopment For some years, the site suffered. Travellers camped in the car park of the derelict Normid superstore and Burnden Park itself fell into disrepair, with demolition not taking place until two years after the last match had been played. As one of the main routes into town, the site needed to be redeveloped after demolition took place in 1999. There is now an Asda superstore on the site, which opened in 2005 after taking over the Big W . The Asda store identifies itself with Burnden Park by having a number of extremely large photographs of the former stadium and players, placed high above the checkouts. Also on the site are a Co-operative travel , a Subway , a Carphone Warehouse and a Johnson's Cleaners adjacent to Manchester Road.

A new DW Sports Fitness centre/sports store has also moved here (roughly where the Burnden Stand was), to make a significant, out of town development. There is one empty unit situated between Asda and DW Sport which was for conversion into three shops and was due to open November 2007 - January 2008, a Poundstretcher , a Pets Galore and an unknown food shop similar to Home Bargains . References Notes Learn and talk about Burnden Park, 1895 establishments in England, 1999 disestablishments in England, Bolton Wanderers F.C., Buildings and structures in Bolton Location[ edit ] Situated on Manchester Road in the Burnden area of Bolton - less than a mile from the town centre - the ground served as the home of the town's football team for 102 years. It also hosted the replay of the 1901 FA Cup Final , in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3-1. [2] History[ edit ] Bolton Wanderers was formed in 1874 as Christ Church FC, with the vicar as club president.

After disagreements about the use of church premises, the club broke away and became Bolton Wanderers in 1877 meeting at the Gladstone Hotel. [3] At this time Bolton played at Pike's Lane but needed a purpose built ground to play home matches. As a result, Bolton Wanderers Football and Athletic Club, one of the 12 founder members of the Football League, became a Limited Company in 1894 and shares were raised to build a ground. Land at Burnden was leased at £130 per annum and £4,000 raised to build the stadium. Burnden Park was completed in August 1895. The opening match was a benefit match against Preston and the first League match was against Everton in front of a 15,000 crowd.

[4] The finals of the Rugby Football League 's 1986–87 and 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy tournaments were played at the ground before crowds of 22,144 and 20,709 respectively.[ citation needed ] In its heyday, Burnden Park could hold crowds of up to 70,000, but this figure was dramatically reduced during the final 20 years of its life, mainly because of new legislation which saw virtually all English stadia reduce their capacities for safety reasons. A section of the embankment was sold off in 1986 to make way for a new Normid superstore.[ citation needed ] The club's directors had decided by 1992 that it would be difficult to convert Burnden Park into an all-seater stadium for a club of Bolton's ambition. They were members of the new Division Two (which was known as the Third Division until the creation of the Premier League ) but the club wanted to build a stadium to meet these requirements in the event of promotion to Division One and ultimately the Premier League.

The last ever Wanderers game played at the historic ground was against Charlton Athletic in April 1997. Bolton, who were already Division One champions, defeated Charlton 4-1 after being 1-0 down at half time. Whites' legend John McGinlay scored the final goal shortly before Bolton received their trophy and the crowd united in singing Auld Lang Syne .[ citation needed ] It was decided to build a new multimillion-pound 25,000-seater stadium (later raised to around 29,000) – the Reebok Stadium – 6 miles away at the Middlebrook development. The move took place in 1997, bringing an end to 102 years of football at Burnden Park. Burnden Park disaster[ edit ] Main article: Burnden Park disaster On 9 March 1946, the club's home was the scene of the Burnden Park disaster , which at the time was the worst tragedy in British football history. 33 Bolton Wanderers fans were crushed to death, and another 400 injured, in an FA Cup quarter-final second leg tie between Bolton and Stoke City .

[5] There was an estimated 85,000 strong crowd crammed in for the game, at least 15,000 over-capacity. The disaster led to Moelwyn Hughes 's official report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes. [6] Outside football[ edit ] The railway embankment of Burnden Park was seen in the 1962 film A Kind of Loving , starring Alan Bates and June Ritchie . Part of the Arthur Askey film "The Love Match" was also filmed at Burnden Park in the early 1950s. A painting of Burnden Park in 1953 by L. S. Lowry , Going to the Match, was bought for £1.9 million by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) in 1999. [7] Redevelopment[ edit ] For some years, the site suffered.

Travellers camped in the car park of the derelict Normid superstore and Burnden Park itself fell into disrepair, with demolition not taking place until two years after the last match had been played.[ citation needed ] There is now an Asda superstore on the site, which opened in 2005 after taking over the Big W . The Asda store identifies itself with Burnden Park by having a number of extremely large photographs of the former stadium and players, placed high above the checkouts. Also on the site are a Co-operative travel , a Subway , a Carphone Warehouse and a Johnson's Cleaners adjacent to Manchester Road.[ citation needed ]

Question: Who painted 'Going To The Match' a painting of a crowd on its way to Burnden Park, Bolton?
Answer: L.S. LOWRY